Award
Celebrating the 2024 SFU Economics graduate award winners
Congratulations to our graduate students whose outstanding academic performance and passion for economics has earned them this year's Department of Economics student awards.
Lang Wong Memorial Endowment Scholarship
Named in memory of Lang Wong who devoted over 50 years of his life to the cause of international development, this award is presented to an outstanding international graduate student who has demonstrated academic excellence.
2024 - Mohamed Abubraidaa
Mohamed joined SFU in 2019. He is passionate about economics because it helps us understand the world mechanism and how it works. He is particularly drawn to macroeconomics, which tackles the bigger issues, surrounding us, as a society. Macroeconomics influences not only an individual or group decisions within a society, but extends beyond to impact different groups and societies. His research interests focus on monetary policy and macro-finance. After graduation, he plans to use the advanced skills he has learned to benefit society on a larger scale, aiming to make an impact and collaborate with others wherever he can contribute.
2024 - Maarij Rehman
I joined SFU as a PhD student in Economics in the Fall of 2020 right after completing my MA in Economics from the University of Alberta. My broader research interests lie in political economy and labour economics. Over the past years my work has been focused on the political economy of labour, specifically labour unions. Inspired by labour action in the wake of the COVID-19 Pandemic, I am currently working on research projects quantifying the impact of unionization on political and labour outcomes. When I am not researching, I am either busy TAing courses in microeconomics or playing guitar.
2024 - Mahyar Rezazadeh
I joined the SFU Economics department in 2020, in the midst of the COVID pandemic, and began my M.A. in Economics. I found the department's environment to be very welcoming and supportive. I later went to the U.S. to start my PhD in Economics, and after completing a year of coursework at Indiana University, I decided to return to the department where I first began.
My fields of interest include Applied Microeconomics, with a particular focus on Environmental and Health Economics.
In the future, I plan to pursue a career in research, whether in a university setting or at research institutions that are active in my areas of interest.
SHIVA AND ELIZABETH NANDA GRADUATE FELLOWSHIP IN ECONOMICS
Established in 2021 with a generous gift from Shiva and Elizabeth Nanda, the fellowship is intended to provide financial support to students pursuing their doctoral degree at Simon Fraser University's Department of Economics.
2024 - Uzair Azmat
Uzair joined Simon Fraser University’s (SFU) Department of Economics in 2020 as part of the PhD program after completing his Master’s degree at Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS) in Pakistan. He has also cleared all levels of the Charted Financial Analyst (CFA) desgination (USA). His research interests lie in financial economics and macroeconomics, with a special focus on how housing markets respond to alternative mortgage contracts. He has presented his research on reference dependence behavior in risk-sharing mortgages and its impact on default rates at multiple conferences in Canada, the UK, and France.
In addition, Uzair has published a paper in the Journal of Real Estate Research. He is currently investigating debt-averse borrowers and their influence on interest rates, prepayment rates, and contract selection. Beyond his research, Uzair takes great pride in teaching economics, where he enriches his classes by incorporating his research and fostering critical thinking.
Meiyu Li Memorial Scholarship in Economics
Created in the memory of PhD candidate Meiyu Li, this entrance scholarship will go toward supporting outstanding international graduate students, like Meiyu, who are pursuing research in the Department of Economics.
2024 - Hossein Jalili Bolhassani
I joined Simon Fraser University (SFU) in September 2023 to pursue my graduate studies in Economics. My interest in macroeconomics stems from a desire to address complex economic issues, particularly those related to policy analysis and economic development. Prior to SFU, I worked as a Policy Analyst in Iran, where I conducted research on critical economic challenges and provided data-driven insights for policymakers. I find macroeconomics fascinating because it enables me to analyze the broader economy and its direct impact on people's lives. My research interests include monetary policy, money and banking, and economic growth, with a strong focus on applying econometric models to support evidence-based decision-making. After graduation, I plan to continue working as an economist in policy research, contributing to reforms that promote sustainable and inclusive economic growth.
Peter Kennedy Memorial Graduate Fellowship
Named after the late professor Peter Kennedy, this award is presented to the outstanding graduate student who has demonstrated academic and teaching excellence.
2024 - Esmaeil Izadi
Esmaeil joined Simon Fraser University in August 2019 after completing his undergraduate studies in engineering and earning master’s degrees in economics in Iran and the US. His transition from engineering to economics was driven by a strong interest in social science and the analytical challenges it presents.
Esmaeil’s research focuses on political economy, where he digs into the dynamics of institutional and social structures. On the theoretical side, he explores how institutions and cultural entities shape one another, while his applied work, in part, looks at how political connections impact firms’ financial performance in weaker institutional environments.
Teaching is another big part of Esmaeil’s academic life. He enjoys working with students and has served as a teaching assistant and lab instructor for a variety of courses in the Economics Department as well as the MA Finance and MBA programs at SFU’s Beedie School of Business. His commitment to student learning consistently earns him positive feedback and evaluations. Esmaeil also volunteers with the Economics Graduate Student Society (EGSS) and the Graduate Applications International Network (GAIN), where he supports GAIN’s mission of helping students from across Africa apply to graduate programs in economics.
Herbert G. Grubel Award
This award is given to the graduating MA student with the highest cumulative grade point average (CGPA) obtained in the MA required courses during the preceding Fall and Spring terms.
2024 - Oskar Escobar Sossa
I joined SFU in the Fall of 2023, my love for Economics arose from my interest in areas like Mathematics and Physics during high school, but I was looking for an applied area with a focus on social issues, I also have a passion for markets analysis. The combination of all these topics is what makes me enjoy Economics. I have special interest on Microeconomics because I like the analysis behind decision making and modeling these processes in a simple but elegant way.
Before joining SFU, I earned my Bachelor's degree in Economics from Universidad Católica Boliviana 'San Pablo', I also worked as a research assistant with very talented economist in Bolivia before joining the Institute of Social Sciences at the University of Tokyo, and then moving to Canada.
Among my research interests are applied microeconomics, environmental economics and industrial organization.
Once I finish my studies at SFU I look forward to exploring diverse areas of work and joining a PhD program in the future.
James Dean Award
Named after the late emeritus professor James Dean, this award is given to the student with the best ECON 900 paper.
2024 - Maarij Rehman
I joined SFU as a PhD student in Economics in the Fall of 2020 right after completing my MA in Economics from the University of Alberta. My broader research interests lie in political economy and labour economics. Over the past years my work has been focused on the political economy of labour, specifically labour unions. Inspired by labour action in the wake of the COVID-19 Pandemic, I am currently working on research projects quantifying the impact of unionization on political and labour outcomes. When I am not researching, I am either busy TAing courses in microeconomics or playing guitar.
Richard G. Lipsey Award
Given to the continuing PhD student with the best comprehensive exam results at the end of their first year, this award is named after emeritus professor Richard Lipsey.
2024 - Farhad Shahryarpoor
I began my PhD journey in Economics at SFU in Fall 2023. My academic path initially started in engineering, but partway through my bachelor’s degree, I discovered that my true passion lies in understanding human interactions, so I switched to economics.
While studying microeconomics, I became fascinated by the insights it offers into strategic interactions at the individual level, ranging from everyday experiences to the complex interplay of incentives. In macroeconomics, I was amazed to see how individual interactions within the aggregate economy can shape the long-term destinies of societies. The field of econometrics captivated me further, as it enables the development of tools to quantify economic phenomena. Over time, my interest in economics has only deepened, especially in how the discipline connects with other fields. Economics has proven to be a versatile and expansive field, far beyond my initial understanding.
With the guidance of the experienced faculty at SFU, I aim to build a strong foundation that will prepare me to make meaningful contributions to the field upon graduation.
Shiva and Elizabeth Nanda Graduate Scholarship in Economics
Offered annually to students pursuing a graduate degree in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences in the Department of Economics, who are in excellent academic standing, have demonstrated academic excellence and show promise of outstanding achievement with particular emphasis on research ability and originality.
2024 - Niloufar Eslah
I graduated with my master's degree from the University of Calgary, and joined SFU’s Department of Economics in the fall of 2024. I am currently a PhD student passionate about pursuing research. Macroeconomics, and economics as a whole, are about studying real life. I enjoy using economic tools in research to uncover the unknown. For me, macroeconomics offers a broader, clearer view of the real world through a wide lens. Following graduation I plan to continue my journey in research, deepening my understanding of the world we live in.